Flames swallow oxygen,
duplicitous in their deeds,
circumventing steel barriers—
steel barriers doubling over.
Ashen soot cakes the walls;
walls crumble, interlacing with soot.
Pyres of fire lick the night sky;
crimson smoke suffuses the air.
Breathing in microparticles,
microparticles sticking
to fibrous membranes—
breathing collapses.
Lit match—ignition,
cinders glow.
ADMIRATIONS
captivated
by
the imperative
genuflecting
the polyphonetic
with
demode
certainties
castigating
& circumventing
pressures
entranced
by
the
unsettling
yet
irrepressible
influences
of
today
Employing the Wind
The red-tailed hawk sails across
the backdrop of the April blue sky
Employing the wind as he defies gravity
with the gesture of his tail and ease of his conscience
His great wings reaching out for abundance
as he scans the ocean of green grass below
with its occasional island of trees
herded together many seasons ago
from the might of the farmer’s plow
The field mouse scurries across the pasture
circumventing the patchwork of cow patties.
Employing the wind as he gages his path
with the twitch of his nose and the whip of his tail
His tiny soundless feet carrying him into the abyss
With nothing to assure him but his own intentions.
The cul-de-sac of safety comes to mind
when faced alone with problems to resolve;
finding that place where boundaries unwind
a safe cocoon where answers can't evolve.
A dead-end street this cul-de-sac supplies-
where only certain outcomes come and go.
Outside-the-box solutions don't arise;
too easy to remain on this plateau.
To come and go from this safe cul-de-sac,
a zone that shields the sights of what's beyond-
returning to its circumventing track-
will never break this closed and lonely bond.
Around in circles, spinning every day-
where roads of clear, straight thinking fade away.
February 19, 2023
Contest: This or That, Vol 16 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
Circumventing
discombobulation
results in
circumbobulation
Eructing
redaction
is a form of
eraction
Malevolent
people
are truly
maloverted
A Mitsubishi breezes out of the South at Seven,
The North storming at Eleven;
The driver’s continual worrying of gear five,
The tires of the machine ever roaring alive;
In pyramidal slights of screaming passengers
Now-turned doom-alerting messengers.
It’s a driver clearly going bananas,
His remarks classically proving his uncivil manners;
Kano pedestrians openly mad at him,
Now and then attacking him as a team;
Fears that he ‘d been weaponizing his journeys,
Each murder charge circumventing with bribed attorneys…
Always about spillage of blood on a coal tar,
Which he had their bills settled in a lone bar;
The other day, all the passengers dead and cold !
Driver and conductor assisting ambulance told;
Only minor injuries to driver’s finger nails
And serious injuries to conductor’s toenails.
Life is a three-ring circus
Thrice around and around
The jolly merry-go-round
Fun the ultimate purpose
Mesmerized at this and that
Laughter for every age
Exotic animals in a cage
Used to being stared at
Rides speeding up and down
Through hoops and loops
Joining dancing troupes
Circumventing any sad frown
Lining up sideshow freaks
Presenting a two-headed man
Sexy dancers doing the cancan
A bearded lady that wreaks
As he flaunts treacherous highwire act
Ringmaster shows off painted elephants
Clowns making fun of fake elegance
Big top forever designed to attract
Submitted on March 18, 2019 for contest BRING ON THE DANCING BEARS sponsored by JOHN LAWLESS
Come closer, the canvas collapsed
This clairvoyant contains no confidence
Constant creative calamity clouds his clarity, continuously complicating his collective
From conscientious to cataleptic
Cooped up, closed off in his cranium
Centuries and centimeters continue and contort, constantly trying to keep count; counting the clicks of his center clock
A creator, now a captive; cut off from his countless colors- his core gets colder and colder
The conscious consensus has been cleaved, captured in his comatose cocoon
His chi calls out to consult
Without complaint or coercion, he is calm in his current conundrum
Conjuring a circumventing counter to this circumstantial change
Comfortable in his corporeal cathedral, catapulted through his cerebral cosmos
His life cannot cease
How times change but don't
for the populace of self made clones
by the past and mistakes often made
of the outcry for the poor and eager on parade.
Surely politicians rise with good intentions
but the party line becomes circumventing
as promise and hope quickly erode
with the campaign promises no longer heard.
Where is the America of dreams
where one could rise beyond the immoral screams
of the famous and the rich bathing in power
who have egotistic goals set in closed off towers.
Look to history and its multitude of lessons
unless each speak out with logical concessions
a president who would be unquestioned king
bears no one honor but self determined responsibility.
Octopus arm
circumventing mind
reaching soul
through media
lulled eyes
dreaming sex appeal
and riches
sleeping at a wheel
pulled by strings.
Women in clothes
designed to reveal
layers of make up
to conceal
with strength of men
fighting to gain rights
a life to abort
without a thought
as an object exploited.
Men likewise
in satin attire
urged to be feminine
when they know they are not
hiding grief
passing baton on
octopus lies
not daring resist.
Arise from the dust
with an eagle flight
shake off the snake
into the flame and shout:
We are not afraid
we are men and women of faith!
Love means
Never having to say
I am afraid.
Tenth Place: Brian Strand-All Yours-1/18/21
Ninth Place: Lewis Raynes- Modern Vanity-7/23/17
Chasing a dream, she peddles her body
and dresses sexy, though never gaudy.
Catering to upper society,
high-priced call girls project propriety.
Easily enticed by riches, she yearns,
sex fuels the flames as innocence burns.
And selling favors for dollars and fame,
she pimps herself; it's all part of the game.
When paper passions and desires unfold;
sex isn't intimate; it is something sold.
And words of sincerity ring hollow
amidst phony smiles; men pay to follow.
Tomorrows cannot be freely explored,
for feelings are subdued when love is whored.
And abandoning family and friends,
circumventing objections; she pretends.
Reality exasperates her plight,
piercing awareness like slivers of light.
And, anguish slowly envelopes her soul,
for her lifestyle levies a heavy toll.
Our beloved circle
Thou travel a path of uncertainty
For an observer, thou seem straight
But nothing appears as it seems
For thou portrays a flawless path
Eschewing real travails
Yet enclosed within, is a vacuum
Contradicting thou great virtue
Bringing forth her deceit in diversity
But nature abhors vacuum
So, it struggle against your essence
Circumventing your existence
Yet, to no real substance
For the value of your presence
Is as inevitable as destiny
Circle, what a vain glory you are?
All The World's A Stage
You'd better believe it
Each Act encircles
daily excursions circumstantially
transversing through eternity.
Conversations comprise
realms of performances
pestered with dalliances
circumventing stratospheres.
You surmise it's
not a dream,
but utopian reality
as you project your image
into telescopic
Karmic repercussions
drifting through sequential
blockades of hurdles
terminating serenity.
Peacefulness serenades auras
of dancing mistruths
utilized to perfection
under lights.
You take a final bow,
go to sleep.
My worst fear is to be trapped in a world, where nothing is real;
A terrestrial nightmare that's just a façade.
Existing in a realm where there's nothing to feel;
Living beneath a Heaven, where there is no God.
Escalated fears in the absence of rule,
Leaders circumventing our every natural birthright.
Usurping freedoms and sharpening their tools;
Powers that govern, in the darkness of night.
Sinister sovereign rulers, their powers unclipped,
Expressing total suppression over the land.
Where righteousness, its virtues now stripped,
Succumbs to the darkness, as the wave to the sand.
How dark is the night, that never sees day;
Naivety of the lamb; an injustice absolute.
How deep the ocean; how crimson the bay?
Man's inhumanity to man, the devil's commute.
I'd suffer the pangs of the samurai's sword
Rather than see my children languish in despair.
My worst fear is their absence of any reward,
In a world riddled with deceptiveness, almost beyond repair.
Where is the justice in this world so unfair?
Nothing other than the silent voices of the people,
Will ever free us from this most nefarious nightmare.
My worst fear is to be trapped in a world, where nothing is real;
A terrestrial nightmare that's just a façade.
Existing in a realm where there's nothing to feel;
Living beneath a Heaven, where there is no God.
Escalated fears in the absence of rule,
Leaders circumventing every natural birthright.
Usurping freedoms and sharpening their tools;
Powers that govern, in the darkness of night.
Sinister sovereign rulers, their powers unclipped,
Expressing their suppression over the land.
Where righteousness, its virtues now stripped,
Succumbs to the darkness, as the wave to the sand.
How dark is the night, that never sees day;
Naivety of the lamb; an injustice absolute.
How deep the ocean; how crimson the bay?
Man's inhumanity to man, the devil's commute.
I'd suffer the pangs of the samurai's sword
Rather than see my children languish in despair.
My worst fear in their absence of any reward,
In a world riddled with deceptiveness, that grossly unfair.
June 20, 2016
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